@Colvinius is one of this country's most respected journalists and most followed Twitterers, hence his verdict is telling.

Last night:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Colvin

‏@

Until tonight I thought Abbott had months (maybe not 6, but months), to win the party back. Now I think he has weeks.
9:12 PM - 13 Feb 2015

This morning:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Colvin

‏@

We're at the end of the tercio de banderillas.
9:43 AM - 14 Feb 2015

Quote:

In the next stage, the tercio de banderillas ("the third of banderillas"), each of the three banderilleros attempts to plant two banderillas, sharp barbed sticks, into the bull's shoulders. These anger and agitate, but further weaken, the bull. He tires from his attacks on the horse and the damage he has taken from the lance. Sometimes a matador will place his own banderillas. If so, he usually embellishes this part of his performance and employs more varied manoeuvres than the standard al cuarteo method commonly used by banderilleros.

Maybe it's just my imagination, but I can't help thinking that those sorts of criticisms are far more likely to be dumped on women than on men.

There's a certain irony about those two women. One of them is, Peta Credlin, the Prime Minister's chief of staff. The other is Julie Bishop, Tony Abbott's Minister for Foreign Affairs. She also is the deputy leader of the Australian Liberal Party. Abbot is its leader.

Their boss is on record for saying this:

And there's a long string of Abbott's sexist pronouncements. Among them:

"If it's true, Stavros, that men have more power generally speaking than women, is that a bad thing?"

In reply to "I want my daughter to have as much opportunity as my son." "Yeah, I completely agree, but what if men are by physiology or temperament, more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command?"